Three Point Territory

[Kind of a Big Deal] Keita Bates-Diop scored 19 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in Friday’s win over Robert Morris. He proved to be too big and too skilled against an undersized RMU team. Things might be even easier Sunday against a Radford team that features a three-guard lineup ranging from 6-1 to 6-3, and a 6-5 power forward and a 6-8 center. It will be interesting to see whether Radford goes with a guard on KBD or 6-5 power forward Ed Polite. Polite did lead the Big South in rebounding last year, so he’s not exactly a pushover.

[Pick Your Poison] To go along with Radford head coach Mike Jones’ decision on how to defend Bates-Diop, that will also affect what they choose to do with senior forward Jae’Sean Tate. At 6-4, Tate is undersized as well, but putting a guard on him isn’t exactly conducive to his physical style in the paint. When Polite finds himself on Tate, that will then give Bates-Diop a significant size advantage over one of the guards in the paint.

[Any Shooters Here?] In their one exhibition game and in Friday’s season opener, the Buckeyes have combined to shoot just 8-42 (.190) from three-point range. If Ohio State is going to shoot this poorly against the worst of their opponents, how difficult are things going to get against tougher opponents? The Buckeyes need to find their range — or at least find out who can be counted on from deep this season. Right now, that may only be Kam Williams, Keita Bates-Diop, and Musa Jallow, and that’s not enough. Micah Potter has hit those shots in the past. Kaleb Wesson believes he has the range, but Chris Holtmann is not so sure, saying after Friday’s game, “He’s gonna test me on his shooting threes, I know that.”

Radford Probable Starters

What You Should Know

+ Redshirt freshman guard Carlik Jones is the only Ohioan on Radford’s roster, and he scored 15 points off the bench in a season-opening win over Georgia Southwestern (72-63) on Friday.

+ Radford is a member of the Big South and was selected to finish seventh in the conference during a preseason poll. Chris Holtmann coached in the Big South when he was the head coach of Gardner-Webb. He went 3-2 against Radford in that time.

+ The Highlanders are 1-6 all-time against the Big Ten. Radford is 0-2 against Ohio State, 0-1 against Northwestern, 0-1 against Purdue, 0-1 against Michigan and 1-1 against Penn State. That win against Penn State came on Novemeber 24th, 2015 when the Highlanders went into University Park, Pa. and came away with an 86-74 victory.